Flood protection device for premises

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to a device for protecting shops, workshops, cellars, basements and similar premises, that can be exposed to the flooding risk in case of floods or particularly severe atmospheric events. The device, made in the form of a kit, comprises a waterproof enclosure or wall which acts as a barrier against water and that can be quickly installed in case of need, due to a structure to be applied to the walls of the premises to be protected.

The present invention, in its general aspect, relates to the protection of premises such as shops, workshops, cellars and the like, against flooding.

As it is known, in case of flood events in cities or inhabited places caused by heavy rainfalls, floods or other catastrophic events, the greatest damages and dangers involve people or things that are in places susceptible to flooding.

In case of flood waves the shops, houses, garages or cellars that are at ground level or in premises below the ground level, are the first to be hit by the water with all the consequences, which sometimes are also tragic, for people or things that are therein. In order to protect the premises that are at the ground level people usually put at the entrance of houses, in front of doors or front gates, more or less improvised barriers, composed of boards, sand bags and other objects that can withstand water. The experience has proved that these solutions are essentially palliatives that can slow down the water flow for some time, but they do not provide to guarantee reliability in protecting things and people.

On the other hand it is not possible to envisage to make shops placed along city streets crowded with buyers which have to be able to go in and out in a easy way, with watertight panels or other arrangements for the protection against water which would result in an obstacle for the passage of people and that would be not so much appropriate for shop windows and for the goods on display; the same applies to cellars and basements used as storerooms, warehouses, car garages etc., where people have to be able to easily go in and out.

In such context therefore there is the need, in the prior art, to make flood protection barriers for premises of houses, shops, workshops or so on, which can be readily fitted and removed in case of need, without requiring heavy actions or works. The present invention, in its most specific aspect, relates to a flood protection device for the applications mentioned above.

Technical solutions able to meet this need currently are not known, since those that are usually used, as already said, consist of boards made of various material (wood, metal, plastic) that at the most can serve for closing the opening of doors or windows having small dimensions, or they consist of sand bags that are not easily placeable due to a certain weight and in addition their positioning and removal are time-consuming.

Therefore it results that these solutions are not suitable for entrances or passages of parts of buildings or car parks, car garages, storehouses, shops and other premises with access openings having greater dimensions.

The technical problem at the base of the present invention is therefore to provide a flood protection barrier for premises, which has such structural and operation characteristics to overcome the drawbacks set forth with reference to prior art. The idea for solving such problem is to provide a barrier comprising an enclosure or at least a flexible waterproof wall, which can be sealingly applied to the premises to be protected.

To this end the enclosure or the wall are preferably made of plastic film, fabric material or a combination thereof, with a high resistance: the enclosure or wall made in this manner can be readily deployed for the application and folded for being stored such not to be an obstacle.

The characteristics of the invention are specifically disclosed in the claims below; such characteristics and advantages deriving therefrom will be more clear from the description below, with reference to a preferred and non exclusive embodiment of the invention, shown in the annexed drawings wherein:

FIGS. 1 , 2 and 3 are a phantom view of an application of a flood protection device according to the invention to premises for a car in respective operating steps;

FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 are the detail of the device of the previous figures, under the same operating conditions;

FIGS. 7 and 8 are a second application of a device according to the invention to premises for a car;

FIG. 9 is a sectional view of a detail of the application of FIGS. 7 and 8;

FIG. 10 is a detail of the application of FIGS. 7 and 8;

FIGS. 11 and 12 are a sectional view of respective variants of the detail of FIG. 9;

FIGS. 13 and 14 are a sectional view and some details of a further variant of the invention.

With reference to the drawings just listed and particularly to FIGS. 1 to 6, by 1 they show a premises (garage) for a car 2 equipped with a flood protection device 10 according to the invention, of the enclosure type.

To this end the device 10 in this example comprises a flexible enclosure 11, such to be folded as shown in FIG. 4 and deployed to take a substantially parallelepiped shape, visible in FIGS. 3 and 6.

The enclosure 11 is made of a suitable material, having high waterproofing properties and resistance to impact and pressure to which it may be subjected, as it will be better described below.

The material of the enclosure has a thickness that, depending on the material properties, ranges preferably from 1 to 5 mm; suitable materials for carrying out the invention are polyetilene, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) films, fabrics waterproofed by treatments such as the coating with vulcanized rubber, silicones, resins etc.; examples of fabric are those made of synthetic threads (eg. nylon, rayon, PVC, aramid fibers, etc.) or natural ones (cotton), coated with neoprene, polyurethane or other waterproof materials.

The fabric has to withstand pressure levels equal to some atmospheres, preferably from 2 to 4 bar, such that according to the invention, in order to make the enclosure 11 it will be possible to advantageously use the same materials used for making rubber boats that, as it is known, have a floatable structure and whose material need to have optimal airtight and waterproof properties.

Waterproof and airtight materials for rubber boats that can be used in the present invention are those marketed by the company Pennel & Flipo under the name Orca®. As it is seen in the deployed condition of FIG. 6, the enclosure 11 has a substantially parallelepiped shape with a lower base 12 reinforced with respect to the side walls 13, 14, 15, 16 and upper wall 17; the reinforcement of the base 12 acts for preventing it to be torn or cut due to the rolling of the tires of the car 2 and however it derives from the fact that this is the most stressed portion of the enclosure.

To this end the base 12 comprises one or more additional covering and/or fabric layers with respect to the rest of the enclosure 11; the latter is supported in the garage 1 by two beams 4, 5 arranged on the ceiling, to which a series of eyelets 19 arranged all along the upper corners of the parallelepiped is connected.

The dimensions of the enclosure 11 are slightly smaller than those of the garage 1, such to leave a free space with respect to them of about ten centimetres; obviously however the dimensions of the enclosure have to be such to allow a car 2 to be housed therein.

The front wall 13 of the enclosure 11 is openable, such to leave the car 2 to go in and out; to this aim along the side and lower edges of the front face 13 there is provided a zip fastener 20, of the watertight type and stress resistant. Even in this case there are available on the market watertight zip fasteners suitable for this aim, such as for example those manufactured by the company YKK, an example of which is described in the European patent EP 1175842.

It has to be underlined how the fact that the zip fastener extends along the side vertical edges and the lower edge makes the front face 13 so as to be rolled up, such to achieve some advantageous effects.

The first one is that the access to and from the enclosure is easy since there are not elements that can be an obstacle, as the front wall 13 is rolled up; this facilitates also to close the enclosure and to put a car arranged therein under safety conditions, which can be accomplished in a quick and effective manner by simply unrolling the wall 13 and by sealing it with a zip fastener 20, without complicated actions.

It has to be further noted that the closing conceived in this manner is also advantageous as regards the sealing aspect, since the ends of the zip fastener are at the top with respect to the enclosure 11, and so in locations harder to be reached by the water, and however subjected to a hydrostatic pressure lower than the locations arranged at the bottom.

The ends of the zip fastener are points critical for the sealing, even considering the fact that the slider of the fastener could not be closed well up to the bottom (think of hurried manouvres due to the agitation of the moment).

Due to the above it is easy to understand the operation of the device 10 according to the invention.

Should the premises being flooded, the car 2 is placed into the enclosure 11 and therefore the front wall 13 is sealed by means of the zip fastener 20; this operation can be done in short, before the water level raises too much.

In case of flooding the water level in the premises 1 raises, taking the free space between the enclosure 11 and the surrounding walls; since the enclosure is watertight and airtight, after an initial deformation, it settles by actually generating an air cushion around the car.

Thus the latter is protected against water, not only against the flooding of the motor or interiors with adverse consequences easily conceivable, but also as regards possible damages the car can be subjected to by hitting the wall, or due to the pressure that can rest thereon should the water level reaching the ceiling of the premises 1.

These results are achieved by a device simple to be made and installed, that can be applied also to already existing premises.

While the example of the place for a car has been made, the invention may have an advantageous application in general for any rooms or premises to be protected against flooding risks.

The solution with the sealed enclosure 11 is moreover suitable each time an object has to be protected, which has not to be necessarily a car; for example think of the case of furniture or articles shown in shops, that can be effectively protected in case of flood events, as unfortunately it often occurs also in inhabited areas. It is clear that in the case of applications different than that of the described example, the shape and dimensions of the enclosure can change; therefore it is possible to have enclosures with polyhedric (eg truncated icosahedron such as fullerene) or spherical, ellipsoidal shape etc.

Moreover, in order to carry out the invention however it is not necessary to have a closed enclosure.

A variant of the invention made according to these principles is visible in FIGS. 7 to 10, that show a solution for a premises 30 closed by a shutter 31, as it could be the case of a shop, an office, a public place (but however also of a car garage); in FIGS. 7 and 8 for clarity purposes the inside of the premises 30 has been exposed, by removing a side wall.

According to this embodiment, the device 10′ of the invention comprises a wall 40 applied at the opening 41 for the access to the premises, in a watertight manner; the wall 40 is made of the same waterproof material of the previous enclosure 11 and it is fastened to the sides of the opening 41 by seals 43, 44 and profile members 45, 46 as shown in details in FIG. 9.

The profile members 45, 46 have a “raceway” open section wherein the respective seal 43, 44 is placed, which is maintained pressed against the central part of the section of the corresponding profile member 45, 46 respectively, where there is the edge of the wall 40, such to seal it.

The profile members 45, 46 are fastened to the wall 35, 36 by bolts 47, 48 and according to this embodiment, in order to block the seal 43, 44 into the respective profile member, one of the bolts 48 has such a length to close a cover 49 pressing the seal 43.

Particularly, the latter seals on a border of the edge of the waterproof wall 40, folded on the corresponding profile member 45, 46 such that in addition to the seal, the waterproof effect is guaranteed also by the wall being folded.

Further, according to this preferred embodiment, in order to promote the sealing between the profile members 45, 46 and the folded edge of the wall, the former have a respective flat support surface 45 a, 46 a, that in the shown example is obtained by a box-like profile member extending longitudinally to the profile member 45, 46. Near the folded edges along the profile members the wall 40 is equipped with a tight zip fastener 50, of the type already explained above; to this end in the entrance opening 41 a profile member 51 is arranged on the floor with which the lower edge of the wall 40 sealingly engages.

In practice it can be said that according to this variant of the invention, in the opening 41 for the access to the premises 30 there is provided a chassis with a rectangular frame, that supports the wall 40 as a tent which is closed (or opened) by the tight zip fastener 50.

Advantageously, in order to guarantee a maximum waterproof effect to the protection device of the invention, it is possible to arrange a further seal 53, 54 between the walls 35, 36 and the profile members 45, 46 for mounting the latter.

The operation of this variant of the invention is similar to that already explained before, even if in this case the operations to be made for putting the premises 30 under safety conditions, are still more simple, if possible, since essentially one has to close the wall 40 by the zip fastener 50; when the wall 40 is not used it can be rolled as a common outdoor tent.

Therefore, in case of floods due to flood event or other reasons it is possible to protect the premises 30 and all that is therein, by simply closing the protection wall 40.

It has to be noted however how the particular configuration of the wall 40 that can be rolled up, obtained by the provision of a zip fastener system 50 extending along the vertical edges and the lower one of the wall, allows advantageous effects to be obtained for different reasons.

The first one is that the premises 30 can be protected in a quickly and effective manner, by unrolling the wall 40 and by sealing it with the zip fastener 50; that is to say, by the solution of the invention, the wall 40 is ready to be quickly prepared as a tent, in any moment, without the need of making complicated operations. This without creating obstacles to the opening 41 for the access to the premises 30, since the wall 40 is rolled up when it is not used; this aspect is further advantageous even as regards the watertight aspect.

The slider of the zip fastener stops its travel at the top with respect to the wall 40, when this is closed: therefore it is in an area harder to be reached by the water with respect to those at the bottom, and however they are subjected to a lower hydrostatic pressure.

Therefore, even in case of a not accurate closing manouvre made by a person (a probable event due to the understandable panic that one is influenced by in case of floods or similar events), the protecting device according to the invention offers an almost complete safety.

In this context it has to be underlined how it allows the whole access opening 41 to be sealed, actually being a complete diaphgram and not a panel protecting only the lower portion of the opening as generally employed in these circumstances. It has to be noted also in this case that the application of the protecting device according to the invention can be done in already existing premises, since as seen, it does not require particular actions and therefore it can be made in shops, restaurants and other premises without particular difficulties.

These advantageous effects are achieved by the fact that one of the characteristics of the device 10, 10′ of the invention is that of being designed and made as an assembling kit, namely a set of pieces that can be assembled and installed without requiring particularly masonry works in the premises, such to be applied also in the already existing ones.

Obviously other variants of the invention with respect to what described up to now are possible.

Thus, for example, it can be understood that the shape and the positioning of the profile members 45, 46 can be different than the one shown in FIG. 9; variants as regards such aspect are shown in FIGS. 11 and 12 showing how it is possible a different positioning of the profile members with respect to the opening 41 for the access to the premises 30, namely in front of it.

For convenience the same previous numerals have been used for the elements structurally or operatively similar.

It is just the case to note that in the variant of FIG. 11, the profile members 45, 46 have a “H” section wherein the seals 43, 44 are placed, which are maintained pressed against the central portion of the section of the corresponding profile member 45, 46 and against the wall 35, 36 of the premises 30, respectively, for the sealing effect. Moreover the “H” section mentioned above can be obtained also with profile members having a different configuration, depending on several factors such as for example the dimensions of the walls and of the spaces available for mounting the several parts of the invention.

Therefore, approximately, with reference to FIGS. 13 and 14 in which the same numerals as the previous ones has been maintained, one can see that the profile members 45, 46 applied on the walls 35, 36 have tubular portions 45 a, 46 a with a flat, upper wall 45 b, 46 b against which the edge of the wall 40 of the cover 49 is pressed, thus obtaining a sealing effect on a larger area, that is better, under the same conditions, than the case of smaller areas of the previous examples.,

This applies also at the corner points of the wall 40 where, in a preferred embodiment of the invention, squares 55, 56 connecting to the profile members 45, 46 are advantageously used, they having tubular portions 55 a, 56 a too with an upper wall 55 b, 56 b for the abutment of the membrane 40; the latter is pressed against the sealing wall 55 b, 56 b by a cover 59, similarly to what already seen above. The section and front views of such squares are shown in FIGS. 14, parts (a), (b), together with the cover 59 (FIG. 14( c)), where also the bolts 57 with which the cover 59 is fastened are visible and the squares are secured to the walls; to this end in the squares there are provided holes 58 for the passage of the bolts 57.

Finally it has to be noted that for the several components of the flood protection kit such as profile members 45, 46, covers 49, 59, squares 55, 56 the most appropriate materials can be used, both metal and plastic ones or other, provided that they are able to withstand mechanical stresses and corrosion; therefore, in addition to stainless steel, anodized aluminium and other metals, it is possible to use plastic materials such as PVC, polyethylene or composite materials (plastic reinforced by fiber glass, carbon fibers, etc.).

However it has been found that particularly positive results have been obtained with polyoxymethylene (POM), known also in the market under the names such as Delrin®Tecaform®, Kepital® and other ones.

However all these variants fall within the scope of the following claims. 

1. Flood protection device for premises such as car garages, shops and the like, said flood protection device comprising: a passage opening for the access of people or things from and to the premises a barrier with at least one flexible waterproof wall; and supporting means for supporting said barrier in the premises applicable to the waterproof walls thereof.
 2. The flood protection device according to claim 1, wherein the barrier comprises an enclosure with an openable wall, and wherein the supporting means comprise members for hanging the enclosure in the premises.
 3. The flood protection device according to claim 2, wherein the supporting means comprise beams to be secured to a ceiling in the premises, wherein the enclosure is slidably hung such that it can be moved from a non operating condition in which it is folded, to an operating condition in which it is deployed.
 4. The flood protection device according to claim 2, wherein a watertight zip fastener is associated to the openable wall of the enclosure.
 5. The flood protection device according to claim 4, wherein the zip fastener extends along a lower edge and side edges of the openable wall, such that it can be rolled up in an opening condition.
 6. The flood protection device according to claim 2, wherein the enclosure has a substantially parallelpiped shape having a plurality of faces, and the openable wall is at one face thereof.
 7. The flood protection device according to claim 1, wherein the waterproof wall has dimensions substantially equal to those of the passage opening and wherein the supporting means comprise profile members to be secured in the premises to which the waterproof wall is connected.
 8. The flood protection device according to claim 7, wherein the waterproof wall comprises a watertight zip fastener.
 9. The flood protection device according to claim 8, wherein the zip fastener extends along a lower edge and side edges of the waterproof wall, such that it can be rolled up in an opening condition.
 10. The flood protection device according to any of the claims claim 7, wherein the barrier comprises an enclosure, wherein the enclosure and the waterproof wall are made of a waterproofed fabric material.
 11. The flood protection device according to claim 10, wherein the fabric material is of a reinforced type, comprising at least one fabric layer associated with a waterproofing layer.
 12. The flood protection device according to claim 7, wherein one or more of said profile members are made of polyoxymethylene (POM).
 13. (canceled)
 14. A flood protection device for premises such as car garages, shops and the like, said flood protection device comprising: a passage opening for the access of people or things from and to the premises; a barrier comprising an enclosure, at least one flexible waterproof wall and an openable wall; and supporting means for supporting said barrier in the premises applicable to the waterproof walls thereof, wherein the supporting means comprise members for hanging the enclosure in the premises.
 15. The flood protection device of claim 14, wherein the waterproof wall has dimensions substantially equal to those of the passage opening, wherein the enclosure is slidably hung such that it can be moved from a non operating condition in which it is folded, to an operating condition in which it is deployed, wherein the enclosure has a substantially parallelpiped shape having a plurality of faces, and the openable wall is at one face thereof.
 16. The flood protection device of claim 14, wherein the supporting means comprise members for hanging the enclosure in the premises, wherein the supporting means comprise beams to be secured to a ceiling in the premises, wherein the supporting means comprise profile members to be secured in the premises to which the waterproof wall is connected.
 17. The flood protection device of claim 14, wherein the openable wall of the enclosure comprises a watertight zip fastener which extends along a lower edge and side edges of the openable wall, such that it can be rolled up in an opening condition, and wherein the waterproof wall of the enclosure comprises a watertight zip fastener, wherein the zip fastener extends along a lower edge and side edges of the waterproof wall, such that it can be rolled up in the opening condition.
 18. The flood protection device of claim 14, wherein the supporting means comprise profile members to be secured in the premises to which the waterproof wall is connected, wherein the enclosure and the waterproof wall are made of a waterproofed fabric material, and wherein the fabric material is of a reinforced type comprising at least one fabric layer associated with a waterproofing layer, and wherein one or more of said profile members are made of polyoxymethylene (POM).
 19. A flood protection device for premises such as car garages, shops and the like, said flood protection device comprising: a passage opening for the access of people or things from and to the premises_(;) a barrier comprises an enclosure with at least one flexible waterproof wall and an openable wall, wherein the waterproof wall has dimensions substantially equal to those of the passage opening, wherein the enclosure is slidably hung such that it can be moved from a non operating condition in which it is folded, to an operating condition in which it is deployed, wherein the enclosure has a substantially parallelpiped shape having a plurality of faces, and the openable wall is at one face thereof; and a supporting means for supporting said barrier in the premises applicable to the waterproof walls thereof, wherein the supporting means comprise members for hanging the enclosure in the premises, wherein the supporting means comprise beams to be secured to a ceiling in the premises, wherein the supporting means comprise profile members to be secured in the premises to which the waterproof wall is connected.
 20. The flood protection device of claim 19, wherein the openable wall of the enclosure comprises a watertight zip fastener which extends along a lower edge and side edges of the openable wall, such that it can be rolled up in an opening condition, and wherein the waterproof wall of the enclosure comprises a watertight zip fastener, wherein the zip fastener extends along a lower edge and side edges of the waterproof wall, such that it can be rolled up in the opening condition.
 21. The flood protection device of claim 19, wherein the enclosure and the waterproof wall are made of a waterproofed fabric material, and wherein the fabric material is of a reinforced type comprising at least one fabric layer associated with a waterproofing layer, and wherein one or more of said profile members are made of polyoxymethylene (POM). 